1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new and improved accessory for use in removing paper towels from a paper towel roll when mounted on a paper towel holder, and more particularly to a paper towel removal device having a riser and a brake wherein positioning of the paper towel between the riser and the brake facilitates the removal of only the desired number of paper towels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Paper towels are used in virtually every household for a great variety of purposes. Many times paper towels are found not only in a household's kitchen, but also in the garage, shop, utility and laundry rooms. Paper towel rolls are typically 11 inches in length, each roll consists of several hundred towels, separated by perforations, wrapped around a hollow cardboard cylindrical core.
Common paper towel holders are able to be easily mounted in many places, such as under cabinets and on walls. Most types of popular paper towel holders for holding rolls of paper towels include a flat base portion having fold-out flaps at either end of the base portion. When the fold-out flaps are unfolded, they extend at a 90.degree. angle from the base portion. Typically this style of paper towel holder is mounted under a cabinet with the base portion attached to the cabinet and the flaps extending downwardly.
Removing either a single paper towel or a plurality of paper towels at once from a roll of paper towels from such a dispenser, without unrolling unwanted paper towels from the roll, can be a difficult task. Typically, individual paper towels on a roll are delineated by perforations through the paper towel. If the perforation is not positioned correctly, or if the user pulls in the wrong direction, not only will the paper towel not separate from roll, but several sheets of paper towels can be unrolled from the roll. Sometimes the desired paper towel can be removed from the roll, but several sheets of paper towels are still unrolled. This occurrence requires that the paper towels be re-rolled onto the paper towel roll, which is a tedious and sometimes difficult task.
Alternatively, the user can pull the desired length of paper towels off the roll with one hand and hold the roll stationary with the other hand while tearing off the desired length. This is extremely inconvenient when the user is working at some task and may have his hands wet or otherwise occupied.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a paper towel separator accessory for use with common paper towel holders that allow the desired number of paper towel sheets to be removed from the paper towel roll without causing several unwanted sheets to unroll therefrom. It is against this background that the significant improvements and advancement of the present invention have taken place in the field of paper towel roll accessories.